Ordinarily, the only talking point in cricket would have been Australia-South Africa, and the most fascinating series the game has seen in some time; events in India have shifted the game's focus substantially, however, sport and real life intertwining to create drama at every level.

But while England get off to a surprisingly good start in a series overshadowed by Mumbai, Graeme Smith's defining test to date looms appealingly less than a week away, with ridiculously early mornings in store for most of us.

The prospect of Steyn, Ntini and Morkel operating in tandem at Perth is enough on its own to get the blood racing ? and that's just one aspect of a thrilling series.

I remember watching a genuinely terrified Michael Slater trying to deal with a very fired up Devon Malcolm at the Waca in 1995 (the Australian crowd had been countering the Barmy Army by singing a delightful number about Malcolm being a big girl's blouse; Slater copped the fallout), and it remains one of the most electric sights I've seen in sport.

Steyn is quicker, and all three more accurate than Malcolm; that might not make them as frightening as the English quick (if he didn't know what he was going to bowl, then the batsmen certainly didn't have a clue), but does make them more dangerous.

Mitchell Johnson has already tried to talk up himself, Stuart Clark and Brett Lee as equally potent, and he has a fair point ? Lee at full steam with a new ball won't be the most welcome of sights for Smith and Neil McKenzie. But the adrenaline and the competition ? as well as the sledging, which has the potential to reach the standard India and Australia set earlier this year ? is exactly why this series will be so fascinating; that, and the test that is represents for the true measure of Australia at the moment.

Win, and the loss in India will have been a minor hiccup, a foreign lapse in concentration against a team finally making good on its outrageous depth of talent. Lose, however, and the pasting the Australian media cheerfully dished out on its team will take on a new dimension ? if the English tabloids like mauling their own, then the Australian press takes it to another level. Ponting's captaincy, the loss of Warne, McGrath and Gilchrist, Symonds' misadventures, the quality of the attack ? all are issues just lined up by the Australian public to attack their team with.

And as we're all enthusiastically taking note of, there's every chance of coming away from Australia with a series victory.

The top six is looking extremely settled, the pace attack has the potential to be very destructive, and most importantly, perhaps, this a very settled South African side, helped in no small measure by the quiet guiding hand of Duncan Fletcher, who has the added bonus of an Ashes victory over Australia to draw from in support of Smith and co.

Fletcher's been particularly focused on Jacques Kallis, the victim of churlish Australian criticism, attacking him for being a selfish flat-track bully. It's barely worth responding to; what is worth considering, though, is how Kallis's statistics would line up had he been supported in a top six for the first decade of his career by, say, Slater, Hayden, Ponting, Waugh, and Waugh, rather than a fragile, quicksilver top order that forced him into batting for the team and holding the innings together on most occasions.

Kallis is simply too good a player not to come back, and his added menace as a bowler ? get him riled up sufficiently, and he's genuinely quick ? makes him as valuable as ever; the important point, though, is that there is enough talent (and in form talent) around him for his contributions to be less crucial than they have been in the past.

Smith and McKenzie have quickly forged the most reliable opening partnership in the Test game at the moment, Amla looks more authoritative with every innings, Prince is as stubborn a man to remove from the crease as the Australians will come across, and De Villiers' warm-up hundred only bodes well.

All of which suggests we have a summer to look forward to, even if there are definite weaknesses. Paul Harris is containing at best, the tail looks fragile, and Morne Morkel's form remains a changing beast ? and loss in India notwithstanding, no team exploits weakness like the Australians.

And they remain an outstanding side, and one that, while under pressure, will thrive on the desire to prove wrong the media they have such a trying relationship with. Agendas abound, personal battles await all over the place, and both teams are absolutely desperate to win. If the Twenty20 game ever needed a riposte, this is it.

  • Contact Dan at dan@metropolis.co.za